This Ability is an online disability awareness newspaper which publishes inspiring stories from around South Africa covering a vast range of topics and abilities. It aims to motivate and inspire persons with disabilities and their family and caregivers.

Run by a small, but dedicated team across South Africa, the newspaper shares stories that promote empowerment, innovation and inclusiveness.

You can read the latest issue by visiting the website, or you can read the stories directly on the web. You can also subscribe to make sure you do not miss any issues of the newspaper in the future.

Many congratulations to everyone involved in the project, that some may remember was selected for the Zero Project 2017 awards in the category of Innovative Employment Practices.

In case you need a re-fresh, the project identifies women who run small businesses and have a marginalised disabled background and offers microfinance solutions without collateral. Between 2008 and 2016 an incredible 14,000 women with disabilities received loans.

John Alex, Group Head-Social Initiatives at Equitas will be continuing to spread the word on this great project, by giving a talk on the model at the upcoming Annual SEEP Conference in October 2-4, 2017 at Arlington, USA.

The Harkin Summit is an invitation-only event that bring together high-level representatives and grassroots implementers from around the world- all working to increase the employment of persons with disabilities.

We have had the pleasure of working with one of Austria’s leading daily newspapers “Die Presse“, in publishing a supplement detailing 43 successful models of employment for persons with disabilities. The article was circulated in the nationwide newspaper and features a selection of practices from previous years of our research, plus some 2017 Zero Project awardees and even some nominations for 2018!

You can download the supplement by visiting the home page of the Zero Project website and clicking on the Die Presse link, or by clicking HERE.

The publication is only available in German, but if like me you need to brush up on your Deutsch then this may be a good opportunity!

It has been a very busy month, not just for us, but for our diligent partners who have been busily scrutinising the 2018 nominations for Innovative Practices and Innovative Policies. With their help, we have cut the list down to 140 practices and 34 policies, ahead of the final vote which takes place in September. It is such a shame to already see so many great practices drop out at this stage and we send our thanks to everyone running the incredible projects out there. We hope to see much more of you in the coming years!

We are inviting over 3,000 experts and specialists in the disability field from around the world to have the final vote on the shortlisted practices. Good luck to everyone!

One of our closest partners and conference allies is heading off on a spectacular adventure to promote the #valuable campaign. On 4th September 2017 Caroline Casey, founder of Binc,will embark on a 1,000 kilometre horse adventure through Colombia to ignite a global conversation on inclusion, through the #valuable campaign.

Backed by global business leaders, #valuable calls on businesses to put disability own their boardroom agenda and will identify 10 game-changing business leaders to stand for the one billion people living with a disability worldwide, and champion the issue of disability around the globe.

I am Atugonza Milton Isaac. When I started school I was the only one with a disability. All the other boys called me by hurtful nicknames, but in my heart I felt, “If others can do it, why not me? Why not a person with a disability?” When the Connecting the Dots project of Sightsavers came to my village I was doing some agricultural work. I heard the news on the radio announcing that the programme was looking for young people with disabilities to take them
for training. I had previously had an introduction on how to use a computer, so I said to myself, “Let me study computers, because in the next generation everything will be computerised.”
Now my job is to go into the field and monitor the young students in the Sightsavers programme: “How’s the work environment? How are you getting along?” I even go to visit students in their homes to see whether their parents are supporting them or not. I then report back to the office – this one is doing well, this one has a challenge. My mission is to empower youth with disabilities to acquire a sense of self-worth, to see that they too can earn a living, and to lobby for them to know their rights and benefits. I also help them benefit from government programmes, like special grants.

I have seen youth with disabilities doing great, great things. Now we are hosting career fairs, putting our work on display. Now everyone knows that disability is not inability!

Apply to the GenH Challenge with your everyday idea to change the trajectory of health.

The best ideas for the future of health can come from anyone, anywhere in the world. Pioneered by Johnson & Johnson, the GenH Challenge is a social innovation prize competition uniquely incentivizing global entrepreneurs, innovators, and people on the front lines of health to join forces and tackle some of the world’s toughest health challenges.

The GenH Challenge is founded on the belief that everyday ideas can transform the trajectory of health for humanity. The competition provides up to $250,000 in funding, plus other incentives, to support and champion the pioneers of ingenuity who will help the world achieve its healthiest generation – “GenH.”

It has been an incredible couple of months for us here at the Zero Project as we were inundated with the best that you have to offer. It’s taken a while, but we’ve counted, counted again and analysed the results. And these results tell us that we received an amazing 372 nominations from 76 countries, which includes first-time nominations from Honduras, Iran, Swaziland and Zambia! Israel top the list with the most innovative practice nominations, while Spain have given us the most innovative policy nominations.

For those statisticians out there, we have put together a more detailed breakdown of the results, which you can find below, and also in the downloads section of the website. Enjoy!

The Zero Project has completed the nomination process for Innovative Practices and Policies in the field of accessibility. It has received 317 nominations for Innovative Practices and 55 for Innovative Policies from more than 70 countries around the world

Vienna 7th August 2017: The Zero Project researches the status of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) around the world. This year, is focusing on employment, work and vocational education and training.
The nomination process started in May 2017 and the Call for Nominations of Innovative Practices, as well as Innovative Policies, closed at the beginning of July.

The Zero Project received an astounding 372 Nominations from 76 countries, and astounding is also the variety of accessibility that is created by them: from assistive technology to tourism, from urban development to access to health and justice, from accessibility in humanitarian aid to orientation maps, artificial intelligence and automated easy language support.

The process of carefully screening, shortlisting, voting on, and finally selecting the Innovative Practices and Policies 2018 of the Zero Project has already begun.

Call for Innovative Practices: 317 Nominations
The Call for Nominations of Innovative Practices resulted in 317 nominations from 73 countries and all regions of the world: 24 were received from Africa, 87 from Asia, 129 from Europe, 43 from North America, 30 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 4 from Australia.
Countries where the most Innovative Practices were nominated: Israel (36), Austria, home country of the Zero Project (34), United States (33) and Spain (14). For the first time, nominations were received from Honduras, Iran, Swaziland and Zambia.

Call for Innovative Policies: 55 Nominations
The Call for Nominations of Innovative Policies resulted in 55 nominations being received by the Zero Project. These Nominations for Innovative Policies came from all regions of the world: Africa (7), Asia (6), Europe (25), North America (9), Latin America and the Caribbean (6) and Australia (2). Countries with the most nominations for Innovative Policies were: Spain (8), Austria (6) and Canada (4).

Next steps in the selection process
The Zero Project team, with the help of its partners and expert network, is currently shortlisting all nominations, based on its three criteria: Innovation, Impact and Scalability.
In September, the Zero Project network will be asked to vote on the shortlisted nominations as the next step in the selection process.
In a final step, the Zero Project team will thoroughly research all practices and policies before final decisions are made by the end of 2017.
The overall aim is to select a total of up to 70 Innovative Practices and 10 to 12 Innovative Policies, to be published in the Zero Project Report 2018 on Accessibility and to award them at the next Zero Project Conference in February 2018 at the UN in Vienna.

The award is open to candidates within all sectors: national an regional governments; local authorities and their associations; non-governmental organizations; multilateral agencies; community based organizations; research and academic institutions; public and private foundations; media entities and individuals in different categories.

Find out more by visiting the UN Habitat website and make sure to apply for the award before the 31st August deadline!